


The Hour of Comfort

by PhoenixFalls



Category: Necromancer Chronicles - Amanda Downum
Genre: Canon Trans Character, Coda to The Bone Palace, Developing Relationship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Multi, POV Female Character, Polyamory, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-18
Updated: 2014-04-18
Packaged: 2018-01-19 22:05:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1485724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhoenixFalls/pseuds/PhoenixFalls
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the events of <i>The Bone Palace</i>, Ashlin decides to push their new relationship along a bit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Hour of Comfort

**Author's Note:**

  * For [polkadot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/polkadot/gifts).



> I wanted to write pretty much all of your Ashlin/Savedra ideas, but after rereading _The Bone Palace_ what I ended up craving most was some post-book hurt/comfort and polyamory fluff. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

It was nearly two decads before they had any time to themselves. Without discussing it, they each slept in their own bedrooms, alone; though Ashlin would have understood Nikos needing Vedra’s comfort and support in the aftermath of his father’s death, she suspected they all felt too unsure of their places to simply fall back into their old patterns.

But slowly they helped pull the city back together: Nikos stern but charitable to the rioters and the demon’s other unwitting tools; Vedra cunning as ever in her manipulation of the tides of the court but always steadfast in her loyalty to Nikos; and Ashlin herself, bemusedly using her sudden popularity as Erisín’s warrior-queen to bolster Nikos’ standing amongst those who had trusted Mathiros’s iron will but had never warmed to their peacock prince. And so when the day came that they finally interred Mathiros in the Alexios crypt, Ashlin decided it was time to act.

Denaris, now Captain of the King’s Guard but still hobbling on her broken ankle, would have to be informed to keep a lid on the inevitable gossip; when Ashlin baldly stated that both she and the Pallakis would be spending the night in the King’s quarters, the older women just snorted mildly and said she would take care of it.

Nikos was closeted with his advisors and had been since supper, so Ashlin dispatched a note to Savedra with Cahal then began readying herself for bed. She took a long bath, donned a nightgown that was simply pretty rather than enticing, then pulled her wrap close and walked down the hall to Nikos’s rooms.

The only people to see her were the two guards at Nikos’s door, and both of them were pointedly stone-faced, eyes fixed on the ends of the hall. But as Ashlin walked between them through the door the younger winked, and the older turned her lips up in the tiniest of smiles.

And then Ashlin simply had to wait. She considered the sideboard, briefly; but she had resorted to liquid courage too often in her time in Erisín, and tonight she wanted her head clear.

Thankfully, Savedra was only a few minutes behind her. She slipped into Nikos’s rooms looking unusually nervous, but when she spotted Ashlin she took four long strides directly into her space, lifting her chin to pull her into a searing kiss even as her other hand came to rest on Ashlin’s abdomen.

They had told only the Royal Physician about Ashlin’s pregnancy so far, and even he did not know the babe was Savedra’s. Ashlin had been torn, changing her mind day to day, unable to decide whether she wanted to carry the child to term or hoped to miscarry as she had with Nikos, thus not testing his promise of acceptance.

He had a generous heart – Ashlin could see why Savedra loved him, even though she still felt little more than friendship for him – but Ashlin did not know if he could be as gracious when not wine-soaked and reeling at the thought of losing Vedra.

But now, watching Vedra pull back just far enough to bend down and press her lips to Ashlin’s still-flat belly, Ashlin felt excitement kindle within her for the first time since she suspected she was pregnant.

Ashlin possessed a modicum of tact, so she had never asked Savedra whether she wished she could have children, but she hadn’t missed that Savedra had grown distant for a week or so after Ashlin had announced her two previous pregnancies. Savedra was wearing a very complicated expression now, wistful and concerned and filled with trepidation, but over all of that she looked—happy.

Her voice was soft as she straightened, tucking Ashlin’s head under her chin. “How have you been?”

Ashlin wound her own arms around Savedra’s waist and turned her head to the side, listening to her heartbeat. “Good. Strong. No morning sickness yet, and I’ve been wearing looser clothing so the tenderness in my breasts bothers me less. Everyone understands that I am simply too busy for my usual sparring right now.”

Savedra nodded, a sharp movement against the top of Ashlin’s head. “When will you make the announcement?”

“Not until quickening. Nikos and I judged it would be too risky to announce earlier -- it would be taken as a good luck omen to announce now, but that would all be lost if I were to—“

“Of course,” Vedra rushed in to fill Ashlin’s pause. For all she could be realistic in her head about her chances of carrying to term, Ashlin had been unable to get past her hesitation at speaking her fears aloud.

They stood entwined for some time, Savedra slowly stroking Ashlin’s hair as Ashlin rubbed little circles into the small of Savedra’s back. Eventually, Savedra spoke again.

“Why did you have me meet you here?”

Ashlin pulled back far enough to look up into Savedra’s face, squaring her shoulders. “It’s time for us to stop tip-toeing around each other. And Nikos’s bed is certainly large enough for three.”

Savedra’s eyes went distant, her expression complicated again, as she looked at the bed in question. “All right. . .”

Ashlin pulled away completely so that she could slip out of her wrap, then she began turning down the lamps. Savedra took off her own wrap, then took it and Ashlin’s (picked up gently from where Ashlin had left it puddled on a chair) over to the wardrobe to hang. Then they both slid into bed.

They spoke quietly in the dim light, telling each other what they had been up to in all the hours they had been apart, trading kisses and caresses that Ashlin took care not to let get heated. She had been the aggressor in their two trysts, so she let Vedra set the pace, ignoring the way her own hands and lips hungered, greedy for Vedra’s skin. Tonight was not about that.

The hour of comfort was nearly gone and midnight upon them when Nikos finally returned to his room. He didn’t see them at first, going through the motions of undressing and preparing a nightcap with his expression closed, clearly still mulling whatever had been discussed in his last meeting. But as he approached the bedside he ground to a halt, eyes widening as he took in their presence, the way they were tangled together.

Ashlin very deliberately kept running her hand through Vedra’s hair, tangling her fingers in the tight curls, and did not allow Vedra to pull back any further than was necessary to meet Nikos’s gaze.

And Nikos, the idiot, had a moment of doubt, hurt and loss flitting across his face before he schooled it to blankness. Ashlin snorted and rolled her eyes exaggeratedly.

“You’re late. But we’ve got the blankets warm for you now, so you had better not keep us waiting any longer.”

Nikos took a deep breath, then shook his head. A bashful smile stole over his face. “Sorry, dear.”

“Get the lamps first.”

“Of course.”

In the sudden darkness, Ashlin smiled herself, and kissed Vedra on the forehead. Then the bed dipped behind Vedra, and all three of them shifted until they fit comfortably. Nikos reached across Vedra’s waist to brush the backs of his knuckles across Ashlin’s belly, then took her hand so that they could each rest on Vedra’s hip. Vedra twisted to give them both a kiss, then they all exchanged soft good nights.

Ashlin woke sometime in the pre-dawn, confused by the movement of the bed until her brain made sense of the writhing shapes on her left. Vedra and Nikos were grinding against each other, their movements desperate; Nikos moaned and Vedra hushed him, then both giggled. Ashlin considered joining them, or at least slipping a hand between her legs and getting herself off as she listened, but she was too tired. So she pushed herself up just enough to give them each a slap on the rear for waking her, then turned over and burrowed back into her pillow to let sleep claim her again.


End file.
